Legal Issues Committee Sitting Suspended due to Confrontation between MPs

The Sitting of the Legal Issues Committee at the Parliament of Georgia, where Supreme Court judicial candidates were being interviewed, has been suspended due to the severe confrontation between two lawmakers - the former MP of Ruling Party Georgian Dream Eka Beselia and the Majority MP Vano Zardiashvili.

The confrontation between the two occurred when the Majority MP commented on Beselia's moral, while the lawmaker Gedevan Popkhadze was interviewing one of the judicial candidates.

After the tense conversation between Zardiashvili and Beselia, the latter hit the lawmaker in his face, calling him a “villain” and other offensive epithets.

Currently, the break is announced in the sitting of the Legal Issues Committee. 

Parliament’s Legal Issues Committee has started the process of interviewing Supreme Court judicial candidates on September 23.

Apart from the members of the Parliament, a member of the Coalition "for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary”, the Public Defender, the Chairman of the Lawyers’ Association and two representatives of the scientific field are also involved in the process of interviewing the candidates.

The process of selecting the Supreme Court judicial candidates started on July 17. The High Council of Justice selected 50 candidates from 137 applicants in total. 

At the next stage, 20 candidates were selected through secret ballot and the list was transferred to the Georgian Parliament for further discussion and approval.

Related Story: Interviewing Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Starts at Parliament

By Ana Dumbadze